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The Reporter
"The Reporter" is the third episode of season 1 of the NBC television series Parks and Recreation. It originally aired on April 23, 2009 to 5.24 million viewers. Storyline Leslie Knope announces she has invited Shauna Malwae-Tweep from the local Pawnee Journal newspaper to write a story about the construction pit she plans to turn into a park. Leslie meticulously prepares for the interview, instructing the members of her subcommittee to "stay on message." Over lunch with Mark Brendanawicz, Leslie seeks advice on how to deal with the press; Leslie once again tells the documentary crew like she did in the "Pilot" that she previously had sex with Mark and seems to still harbor feelings for him. Shauna arrives the next day to interview Leslie, along with Ann Perkins and Ann's boyfriend Andy Dwyer, who accidentally fell into the pit and broke his legs. During the interview, Andy reveals he was drunk when he fell in the pit, much to the horror of Leslie and Ann, who were not previously aware of it. Leslie calls Mark for assistance in dealing with the reporter and Mark, seemingly attracted to Shauna, ends up leaving the parks department office with her. The next morning, Leslie waits at the pit for an interview with Shauna. Leslie is surprised when Mark drops Shauna off at the site and, when she sees Shauna is wearing the same dress as the previous day, she realizes Mark and Shauna have had sex. Leslie is standoffish and irritable during the interview, and she later confronts Mark, who says it is a private matter and tells Leslie she is acting like a "huge dork." When Leslie says she cannot have this type of behavior from members of her subcommittee, Mark resigns from the committee. Leslie asks for another interview with Shauna, attributing her behavior during their last interview to food poisoning from a burrito. During the interview, Shauna reads a number of quotes claiming the park will never be built, and that the existence of unicorns, leprechauns and talking monkeys are more likely. Leslie is disappointed to learn Mark also provided a quote to Shauna, saying that the park will never happen. Later, Ann confronts Mark about the upcoming story and the negative quote, which Mark thought was off the record. The two confront Shauna and ask her not to use the list of quotes she had gathered. Shauna says she will not use the quote provided by Mark since the two are "romantically involved," but when Mark disputes the idea that they are romantically involved, Shauna appears visibly annoyed. Later, Mark apologizes to Leslie and asks to be reinstated to the committee, to which Leslie happily agrees. Later, Leslie reads the story, which is not entirely positive, but her enthusiasm remains strong. In a B story, Tom Haverford deliberately loses games of online Scrabble to his boss Ron Swanson, and is horrified when intern April Ludgate plays on his account and beats Ron. Tom insists to Ron that he is the "Scrabble king." Ron later reveals he knows Tom loses on purpose, but doesn't mind because Tom is his ideal model government employee: unproductive, lacking initiative and a poor team player. Cast Main Cast * Amy Poehler * Rashida Jones * Paul Schneider * Aziz Ansari * Nick Offerman * Aubrey Plaza Guest Stars * Chris Pratt as Andy Dwyer * Alison Becker as Shauna Malwae-Tweep * Jim O'Heir as Jerry Gergich * Retta Sirleaf as Donna Meagle * Steve Zissis as Michael Animals seen * various pigeons in courtyard * a raccoon in city hall hallway during a Leslie Knope flashback Quotes Leslie: Parks Department has so many programs. Jerry is in-charge of our pre-teen nature hikes. For a while, it was a teenage nature hike, but then we changed it because a girl got pregnant. Leslie: The Tucker Park Graffiti Removal Project was a great idea that just ran out of steam. We had removed five cartoon penises - not even 10% - when we were shut down due to lack of funding. To this day, I am haunted by those remaining penises. One penis in particular... Leslie: [ showing a mural of a Native American chief tied to a tree and about to be shot by a cannon ] There are ten murals here in this hallway. This is called "The Trial of Chief Wamapo." It was painted in 1936 and this is Chief Wamapo. He was convicted of crimes against the soldiers. I'm always amazed at his.... quiet dignity right before he's killed by a cannonball. Shauna: I'm surprised no one's complained about this. Leslie: Oh, tons of people have. Yeah ... we get letters every day. Leslie: Tom Haverford. Boy genius. Smooth like milk chocolate. Tom: That's kind of a weird way to describe me. Shauna: [ turns on voice recorder ] It's cool if I recorded this, right? Leslie: [ nervously ] Yeah. Good. That way it's verbatim. Shauna: So Leslie, you're in charge of the committee? Leslie: [ turns off voice recorder ] I'm sorry, it's... it's actually called a sub-committee, not a committee, so... Shauna: Um, we can do all of this on tape. Leslie: Right. Sorry. Sure we can. Shauna: [ turns on voice recorder ] And this is where you meet generally? Leslie: [ turns off voice recorder ] Shauna: Really? Leslie: We meet at a bunch of different places; we don't always meet here, so I didn't quite know how to answer that. Ann: So, how did it ago? She didn't ask about Andy being drunk, did she? Leslie: Uh, no, just kinda standard questions. There was one annoying thing... She and Mark had sex with each other. Trivia To see Trivia, go here.